For the next update, I need to focus on translations. I received a lot of TOILI translations over the last weeks, which I need to add to the TOILI page. I'm so lazy, I should have done that a long time ago. Same goes for two new SEELE reviews. And I'll probably go over the fanfiction link page to remove links no longer functional, and probably add one or two.
Fanfiction aside, I managed to keep myself busy, as usual. When not busy chatting, I've went through the last third of Noir, except for the soon to be released episode 26. I must admit, if I do agree with one of my friends that a few things could have been better executed, I've loved that series (could ADV hurry up to get the license so that I can buy the DVDs?) and I'm eagerly waiting for the last episode.
I also played some EverQuest. No surprise here, uh? While still two levels behind, my Druid on the Rathe server as been brought to speed with my Druid on the Tunare server. Also my Paladin (on Tunare) has been making good progress in the last two days, thanks to getting my old Druid to her location and drop all her stuff (leather armor and platinum pieces) for the the Paladin to pick up. Because of that, I learned a simple fact: my friends new characters levels rose way faster then mines because they didn't have to start from scratch and could survive easier since they could get gear via their more powerful characters. Duh! Why didn't I realize before. For that reason, I'll probably try to level my old Druid up to level 14, so that I can gather more useful gear, more pp (platinum pieces) and also because level 14 has the SoW (spirit of wolf) and Bind Affinity spells, making traveling less a chore than the first time around. Not to mention that I can also use that character, if there's no useful gear on it, to explore different places without fearing being killed (accidentally or not).
So, here I am rambling about EQ again... Well, since it seems to be an integral part of my hobbies now, I opened a very small page about it. Or more accurately, about the character I use. Somehow, I think that having the backstory written down makes the role-playing experience easier and more fun.
Back to fanfics. There's something I neglected to mention in the last updates... for those who don't know already... the results of the 2001 Tako Balls are out! And I won the Best Lemon and Best Author awards! Wai! Thanks!
Ja ne!
October 2nd 2001
Stupid cold... head hurts, nose half jammed, arm and back muscles sore despite not having done anything but TRY to get a good night rest and generally feeling blah. Now, no need to worry, I'll live through that, it's not really serious and I shouldn't really complain when considering that a lot of people probably have to endure worse, heck that's one little cold for the first time in months, while a lot of women probably have to go through worse about once every month, but still, I feel blah and generally irritated. Which is not good when you have a job where a good temper and patience is generally a good things.
Anyway, enough complaining...
Yesterday, finished Volume 4 of Harry Potter. Wow... I must say, things are heating up. Again, I feel a deep sense of respect for the author (who's name is eluding me at the moment and I'm too lazy to look it up on the web and my books are not close by). Again, plenty of stuff I didn't see coming, details stretched all over that suddenly came together... The perfect example of excellent planning and love for a story.
Yesterday, I also put together what I call the The Idea Page. This is basically a page where I detail all the ideas and projects I had and that I eventually pushed away and will probably never write. In case someone is interested by something like that. Who knows, someone might even pick up one of those ideas...
As for my current projects, Discoveries didn't progress much, but at least it did a bit. I really need to get myself to work on some of the solo parts. Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters is back to idle mode. I haven't written anything new with Chosen, but I have a few more scenes taking shame in my head that should be soon moving from ideas to letters on a screen. I've also updated the Chapter 3 teaser with suggested corrections applied, as well as kindly offered description for Kelethin (actually I received two of those). I must say that I'm very pleased with the enthusiasm Chosen is generating.
Gah... tissue box is empty, so I'll leave on that note to fetch some more. Ja!
September 27th 2001
I did it! I did it! I finally made a significant update! New chapters in the Archive. And not only that! I can now prove that I did some work with those teasers for Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters Chapter 8 and Chosen, Chapter 3. While I admit that what's done so far for T3B isn't that great, its at least a first step. As for Chosen... things have taken a much unexpected angle, which I find myself liking very much ^_^
September 24th 2001
Ah, weekend... Slow but not boring, despite the fact that I haven't stepped the foot outside of home, due to recently eating away some of my savings... again... I really hate it when I do that. Now, I'll have to try and basically keep my expenses to a minimum for the next 4 to 6 weeks... damn... But, it's a necessary evil. Whether I go with a big plan like taking a trip to Asia, or something more down to earth like buying a house, I'll require a substantial amount of cash. Not to mention that I will need about a thousand dollars if I want to go to Anime North (Toronto anime convention) in 2002 (I'll possibly meet fellow writer and friend Dante Abbey in the flesh there! Wai!) And I hate it when I pick into my savings. Bad Alain.
But, as I said, not a boring weekend. Right after work, I headed to Sept-Iles to go to one of the two computer shops I mostly do business with when it comes to parts. Now, it's a 45 min. drive and since my only reason to go was for that (as well as picking the new Ranma and Kenshin manga - Wai! Finally the Revenge arc!!!) it was done rather quick. Then, most of the night was dedicated to EverQuest. See, a fan of my stories, Thalarian, aka Chris, decided to retire soon from EverQuest and before that, leave me all his gear. Lots of gear. Lots of VERY GOOD gear. Ain't he a cool guy or what? There's only one trick, however. His character is a druid on Rathe and my character, a druid too, is on Tunare. A bit of a problem. I can't possibly play two druids (as his stuff is druid optimized, so it's the best choice) so there was only one reasonable solution. Since I only had only been playing for a month and that my character was only a "pre-teen" at level 9, I've recreated Myssa (Druid, female, Half-elf) on Rathe. And played quite a bit this weekend, using my past knowledge to give me a boost. Currently, Rathe's Myssa reached level 6, has the spells I most commonly use and has skills that are about half the levels of the original Myssa. Not bad considering how fast I grew close to the original's levels. Of course, compared to the other I only have crappy gear instead of okay newbie gear, but once Thalarian and I manage to find some time to do the exchange, my worries will rather be to avoid dying so that I wouldn't lose my stuff.
Now, there wouldn't be a fan on Tunare who's an High Elf Paladin and wants to retire, is there? Kidding, kidding, that kind of luck rarely happens more than once.
Okay, now that the EQ rant is out of my system...
Saturday was a rather interesting day too. After waking up and realizing that aside from Digimon Tamers Fox's morning shows are getting more and more pathetic, my co-writing team, Greywolf Productions, were able to come up with a few more kilobytes for project Discoveries. Every time, I'm more and more amazed to see just how talented my partner is. What would have turned out to be a scene with only a bit of dialogue and some sex is getting expanded in ways I wouldn't have imagined. As it is, I can't predict the overall results of this team effort. Will the story be publishable? How will the readers react? I can't say, and quite frankly, at this point I don't really care. Working on that is a blast and is so stimulating (hey, you ecchi! Not _that_ way!) Truly, my partner isn't giving herself enough credit when it comes to evaluating her talents. It'S quite possible that for this story, 60-70% of the writing might be done by her, while I'll be orchestrating the plot and all. It sure would benefit more of her writing style than mine.
Saturday afternoon flew by as I got to work on my computers. You see, Ruri, my main computer, had been having problems lately. Yeah, again (a thing to keep in mind... I think the computer of someone who makes a living out of repairing computer systems will NEVER stay 100% operational for long... there will always be attempts at tweaking, new software or drivers installed or new hardware added that will wreck the previously set balance). So I opted for some drastic measures and acquired a new motherboard (see above before EQ rant). Now, while I didn't realized that I got screwed up (I had asked for the MSI Limited Edition board with RAID and a SoundBlaster 128 card, not the board without RAID and a SoundBlaster Live! Value) until my computer was in pieces and the box opened, I still made the upgrade (I wasn't about to drive again for 90 min, the shop was closed anyway and I didn't want to wait another week, screw that) and got Ruri to work like a charm. Which should remain so until I get a PCI IDE controller card in order to add a CD-ROM to my computer (there was a reason for the RAID option, you know; with the 3 hard drives and DVD-ROM already installed, Ruri can't take another peripheral and my DVD-ROM his having problems lately with certain burned CDs, or even recent original driver CDs, so I want to either add either a recent CD-ROM, or a RW drive... umm, an extra casing fan would be nice too...) Then, while I was at it, I also messed around between the other two remaining computers (one was half empty anyway, as I had been using it for a week with Ruri's two main hard drives and a few cards in order to operate normally until I could fix everything) putting Ruri's old board into Gally, taking my parents' computer AMD Duron 800 Mhz CPU for it and putting Gally's old board and PIII 450 Mhz CPU into my parents' computer (well, actually it's mine, but I sorta gave it/lend it to them). Oddly enough, now that the small Biostar motherboard is removed from Armitage (parents' PC) it seems to run faster. Before, I had problems sometimes with Serious Sam, a game I used to recently test a video card I had got via Ebay to upgrade it and now, it runs smoothly, I could even almost swear that it plays better than my other computers! With the integrated sound card now changed for the new SoundBlaster Live! Value, I'll have to check how that computer handles EverQuest now, for when Gally will be busy. It tended to freeze before, but now.. who knows?
Sunday was a bit of a repeat of Saturday, as it started with a chat (but no progress with Discoveries this time... not the right mood, not enough time and besides, my partner will be doing a bit this week where I'm not required) then more computer work as while I managed to put all the hardware at the right place Saturday, it wasn't all working right for all computers (actually, Ruri was the only functional one). But after many frustrating moments, all was right in my world and I could end the day with a bit more EQ.
Oh, and among all that, I had previously received a few new DVDs, so I also watched some anime. Big O is a series that really rocks and I've learned to appreciate the Kenshin English dub (I can't quite read subtitles while playing with computer parts). Quite well done.
Well, I've ranted enough. Ja ne!
September 19th 2001
It seems that the Geocities warning was real after all. I was shown a webpage sample, stating that my webpage was "temporarily unavailable". I must say, Geocities service has grown to suck quite a lot lately. First those annoying Square Ads that couldn't be hidden, not traffic limit. I know a LOT of webpages which will be in much trouble in the near future.
Now, having my page go inactive every time I get a bit too much visitors isn't really interesting, so I don't have much choice. Most of the content that was previously on http://www.oocities.org/rakna01/ has not been transferred to http://rakna.free.fr/. So, from now on, the Geocities site will act as redirector, for all my various webpages. I'm still keeping it, however, for the counter service (I do like to know how many people visit my page) and also because all my previous fics points to that URL. As well as a lot of other web services.
The impact of this. Minimal. On one side, free.fr seems devoid of publicity, but I don't know if it'll be as fast and reliable as Geocities. We'll see. Also, if some had bookmarked http://www.oocities.org/rakna01/main.html, they'll have to change their bookmarks.
Ja ne!
September 17th 2001
Ah, a Monday off. Too bad that Mondays are the days when my co-author generally isn't online. If so, it could have been a Happy day instead of a Good day.
In a recent mail, someone informed me of the possibility that the Geocities mail I received might just be spam. And truth be told, the link where I was directed did show people who received a similar note.
However...
I did some calculations and it IS possible that I could go over the 3 Gb limit if I get over 8000 visits in a month. But that also meant that the visitors would have to load the main page and check out the picture of the week. Seems a bit of a stretch. However, I haven't taken into account people reading some of my stories, so this could compensate.
What does that means? Well, for you nothing really. I simply decided to move my NGE picture gallery section, the pic of the week and the pic of the week archive to the http://rakna.free.fr URL and see what happens. So it means more administration for me, but visitors shouldn't notice a thing aside from URL changes when moving from the pic of the week to the main page and vice versa. Nothing different than for the Chosen, TOILI et NGE fanfic archive pages.
Ja ne!
September 16th 2001
Yesterday I received the following message from Geocities administration:
"Congratulations, http://www.oocities.org/rakna01 is very popular and has been receiving a large amount of traffic. Your site has become so popular, in fact, that our records indicate that you're using more than the allotted amount of data transfer we provide for a free web site, which is 3GB/month (measured on an hourly basis). That means at some time during the past few days we had to turn your site off until the usage fell within the prescribed limit."
While it is annoying to know that my site was shut down for a period of time, I guess it's also flattering. And surprising. I thought that with TOILI now an old story and T3B being on hiatus for nearly a year, well, I was old news. But instead, as I looked at my stats, hits on my pages have been growing steadily each month. From about 4100 hits in July 2000, my main page has reached about 8100 hits last month. And in that period of time, my material has been divided into four different sites: rakna01 with the links and some material, such as the pic of the week, nge_toili specifically dedicated to TOILI, aa_chan01 dedicated to Chosen and the pic of the week archive and seele_hq holding the SEELE site and the NGE fanfic archive. This considered, it's surprising that rakna01 has been the site to hit the 3Gb limit. Even more considering that the data heavy sections located there, my picture gallery and the fanart gallery didn't get that much hits in the last months. So, basically, it's just text, a few pics and the pic of the week that generated that much traffic. Wow.
So, what now? Well I'll be spawning over another additional location. A few things will soon move over http://rakna.free.fr/ (don't visit for now, it's empty). But don't worry, aside from those who might have bookmarked directly on http://www.oocities.org/rakna01/main.html, everything should be done smoothly (and even in the main.html case, I'll replace it with a link to the new location).
That aside... well this may just have been one of the oddest weeks I had. First there was a strike at work, then the events of the US and how my friends got differently affected by it, then the planned golf game at work, getting my truck back from repairs, and my computer going baka. Oh, yeah, and dad's birthday too, where neither mom and I consulted each other and ended up buying the EXACT same birthday cake for him (well, that was funny, even if I'm getting sick of cake now). And now, I learn I'm popular...
*Shrugs*
I guess it means that life goes on and that one can't remain down for too long. Me especially. It might seem selfish considering those who are hurting right now, but it's not something I can help.
Ja ne!
September 12th 2001
Somehow, I'm not exactly sure what to feel. I live in Canada, and more importantly in some nearly isolated little town with barely 7000 inhabitants. So what happened yesterday seems somehow far away. Yet, it's also so very close. This isn't like people dying in hunger Etiopy, or massive genocide in Africa, or war in Somalia. This is a catastrophy of the same order, involving thousand of civilian life, but which occured here, mostly in matters of minute.
It's somewhat scary, but more importantly it's completely stupid and very sad.
I cannot pretend to understand the fear, helplesness and loss too many Americans are feeling right now. So I can only offer very feeble sympaties. I can only check on my personal American friends, hope that there weren't affected (directly or indirectly via the loss of family or friends) and do my best to try and cheer them up, even if only for a small moment.
I wish I had a fic to offer right now. Escaping reality may not be the best way to deal with tragedy, but if someone could find some peace from grief, would it be only for a few minutes through one of my stories, I would feel like I've done *something*. Sure, there's money donation via Amazon.com, but still, it doesn't feel like much.
I don't believe in God. And acts like this adds to my reasons not to. But for the sake of those who do believe, I'll dig up the prayers I was taught while I was young. May the dead rest in peace, and may the survivors be strong and find, someday, happiness once again.
A little note. I know that what happened is shocking. I know that it's scary. I know that it's infuriating. But I think that what people right now need is some peace and help to collect the pieces, not people debating philosophy, politics, etc. Yesterday I had something to do on EverQuest and first thing that hit me when I zoned in was the non stop OOC comments about what happened. And not just facts, but people criticising everything. Then one OOC comment got my attention. A girl who just lost her parents in the WTC and who came to EQ to seek a temporary refuge. I think that the least people could do in a situation like this is to offer such a girl a good time, not keeping bitching about what happened and how running away from reality like that is a bad thing. For crying out loud, that girl lost her parents! So you people shut up and let her find her own way to grieve! She doesn't want sympaties or some moral sermon, she just want to stop thinking for some time! Can you honestly blame her?
I think we hear enough about what happened on TV and in the news as it is. So give the victims some breathing space. Online games, newsgroups, bulletin boards and mailing lists (unless focussing on politics and philosophy) are NOT the place to discuss this. Some people lost a lot here, don't take more away from them.
On this note, I'll shut up myself.
September 10th 2001
As said above, I feel "blah". It's been pretty much like that all weekend long. It's as if something had been missing from my life these last few days and that I can't just work up my usual enthusiasm. I'm relieved that I don't have any friends in crisis right now, it wouldn't be the best timing.
Now, I'm not saying that life is bad or depressive, it's just... okay.
In any case, news. Let's start from the beginning.
From August 31st to September 4th included, I was out of town visiting old friends in Rimouski. Now, for the majority of you who aren't from Quebec, well, that means an hour car ride, a two and an half hour boat ride and another hour car ride. More or less. The trip was quite pleasant. It's always good to see friends face to face instead of via ICQ. We didn't really do anything major: we went shopping, took some walks, watched some anime and regular movies DVDs and generally relaxed. While it may seem boring to some, I was quite content with that. And there's also that I hurt an ankle after many hours of shopping in Quebec (the city, a three hour ride from Rimouski) so the following days going out and get excited wasn't much on my mind. Not when exerting it too much was goddamn painful.
I came back for diner on Tuesday the 4th, to find 137 e-mails waiting for me. Now, 10% was spam, and a lot were from the EFML, which I had read via the archive using my friend Julie's computer in Rimouski, but that was still a lot of mail. So, with the mails I hadn't answered before leaving, those mails, and the mails I got since I came back, I'm finding myself again with a load of mails to reply to. I really need to learn not to be so lazy concerning my mail.
Wednesday was slow. I basically spent it not doing much and playing some EverQuest, to raise my druid from level 7 to 8. However, due to my scary modem-crashing-character-drowning experience, I didn't dare step foot in BlackBurrow, so it probably took more time raising level then it should have. After all, the Gnolls and Gnoll Watchers outside of BB don't spawn every minute and now that I'm at level 8, some of the weakest spanning no longer give me exp. This sucks. Guess that I'll have to go in BB once I reach level 9 and hope that my modem doesn't betray me again. Well, not while I'm playing anyway.
Wednesday night got more exciting, as I received my copy of Blood: The Last Vampire. That was an interesting experience. While there's not much story there (it's pretty much just action that leaves you guessing "Who are those characters? What's the deal?") the visuals where really cool. Now, there are some facial features I'm not an eager fan of, but it was still damn cool. And sure more exciting that the entire Street Fighter II V series I've bought while shopping in Quebec.
Thursday was my return to work. Nothing exceptional there, actually the phones were very silent that day, to it was a smooth return. Friday, however, was special. You see, right now, a group of Federal employees are currently in negotiation for their new contracts. Things aren't going well, so they are resorting to selective strike action. And Friday, they blocked the entrance to my workplace for most of the day (only managed to get in around 2h45 PM). But, thankfully, I had known about that the previous day, so, since the library had yet to get copies of the second and third Harry Potter books (these things go fast) I've borrowed a computer from work and loaded the hard drive with Noir episodes. Got to watch about 10 episodes that day (must say, Dell laptops are cool... managed to run for near 3 hours playing DivX episodes one after the other and it only took an hour at lunch to recharge the battery to near full capacity). A strange day, but entertaining, I guess.
The weekend? Well, it was, as previously stated, "blah". I did go out Sunday to go see American Pie 2 (and did get a number of good laughs, despite the "blah" state of mind, to the annoyance of a little girl seated in front of me - revenge for the last Pokemon movie, mwhahahaha!!!) did some shopping and took my Pathfinder truck for some repairs (rust damage to the paint). Which makes a rather costly weekend, since Friday I noticed some re-writable CD burner sold at rebate which I ordered without giving it much thought, then yesterday I noticed a 30 Gb hard-drive with a rebate on which I jumped without thinking. Now, while the extra Gb will be welcomed, it wasn't quite needed and the CD burner was totally unnecessary, so those are really bad expenses (even more when taking in consideration the upcoming credit card bill and my truck repair bill). I often joke around that I can manage to buy many anime DVDs because I'm a single bachelor, but on days like that, I really wonder if having a girlfriend would rather make me *save* money (I surely would get scolded for buying stuff on impulse like this).
Which leads to today, a rather boring and uneventful day.
*Shrugs* Oh well...
On the writing field, not much to say. I still haven't managed to trigger the right mood to write T3B Chapter 8, although I've read Chapters 1-4 so far (and I'm realizing that I prefer this story a lot more to what I believe to now be the overrated "The One I Love Is..."). Heck, aside from T3B and one episode of MTCFF Ultra, as well as the end of Sailor Nothing (very dark bits aside, this series kicks ass) I haven't read anything. The only positive thing was last Wednesday as me and my partner managed some more slow but definite progress with project Discoveries. The clash of opinions, as well as the different take on things makes it really worth while. This will be a challenging project, but, even if in the end we decide that the result is not publishing worthy, it will be oh SO rewarding.
This is it. And that's plenty enough as it is, considering how long this little update on the news is. I really need to either update more often or learn to ramble less (or both). Well, off for a short round of EverQuest before seeing what e-mail I can reply to if things don't get too hot in my room (these last days, it's been hot outside and there's poor air circulation in my room, so with time, the computer overheats the place -- even worse when I open two computers at a time... just for that, I'm sorta eager for winter).
Oh, yeah! As you might have noticed, I (finally) put new pics "of the week" a few days ago. Aside from that, the only update is putting my computers page and my anime list up to date. Next I'll have to slowly go over my links to remove/correct those which could no longer be working and add some stories to the archive. Already I'm pondering on adding "Lonely Hearts", "Touch" and "Ayanami Afternoons" to the lemon subsection. And later this week, whatever happens, me and other members of the Takoball team will check into finalizing this once and for all. Oh, and I really should try to write some reviews for SEELE. I already need to add two new reviews by Darren Demaine to the site.
August 30th 2001
Just woke up and I figured that if I didn't update right now... I might not for at least another week. I can't believe it's been nearly three weeks. Talk about turning into a procrastinator here. Even my mailbox has piled up 50 emails or so that I have to try to reply to.
But you know... the truth is that there isn't *that* much to update.
There was no progress with Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters. If it wasn't from my pride and the fact that I WANT to see it finished, I might have given up on it. That Chapter 8 is that hard to come. At least, I've been having ideas and flashes, but not much was typed into text yet.
Nothing with Chosen either. I want to be rid of T3B Chapter 8 before I take on Chosen Chapter 3 and... well see the previous point.
At least SOME work was done. After failures with two other friends, I've formed a new co-writing team, a revised outline has been set and even a few bit of scenes have been half written for the lemon project, Discoveries. Of course, the result, or even completion is uncertain, but the fact that we managed so much yet makes me happy.
EverQuest. I think I know why some people dubbed it EverCrack. It's addictive. A lot. I know that I've been seriously caught in it's web. Technically, I'm supposed to avoid playing it to so a lot of other stuff today. I don't know if I'll manage. Well, at least I'm getting my money's worth.
Speaking of EverQuest, I want to give a big 'thanks' to someone named Falacon on the Tunare server (doubt he'll see this, but I want to do it anyway). You see, my ADSL modem decided to play dumb and it seems that when you go offline, your character gets a mind of it's own. So when I came back online via regular modem, I found myself *somewhere* underwater (seems my character decided to change zone and take a walk right in the heart of BlackBurrow). Not able to find the top and even swim in the right direction, I started to panic and instead of casting Gate to teleport to my point of origin, I drowned. With the money I had on me and all the equipment I had painfully gathered since the beginning. I wasn't crying, but I sure felt like it. After an hour of getting almost killed twice trying to *locate* my corpse, I found myself forced to come to term that it was a loss. Thankfully, while I was killing stuff like crazy to get the money to put myself back on my feet, that ugly but very very friendly Iskar named Falacon contacted me privately and asked it I wanted to get my corpse back. So after giving him permission, I dashed over BlackBurrow and found him waiting at the zone entrance with my corpse. Much happiness followed. Let me tell you, some people are NICE. I'm eager to reach Level 14 to give back some of that happiness, with helping the newbies (and practicing the spells of course) with SOW and Binding.
Well, enough EQ rambling. On a personal factor, I'm on vacation now. Been for a few days in fact. Seems I write less when I don't work, strange. In any case, tomorrow I'm off to see a few good friends. So I'll be out of town for about five days. Which means more e-mail piling up while I'll be away. But it's okay, it's been some time since I've been those guys (one year to be exact) so it'll be fun ^_^
Back to fanfiction. It's with great pride that I'll introduce here for those not member of the Evangelion Fanfic Mailing List my protegee Myssa's new webpage! You can enjoy there her fanart and her first story, which is also the only addition I'll be making to my archive for the moment.
Oh, yeah, and the Takoball results are still in standbye. We're waiting for one author to manifest himself...
August 6th 2001
If I keep on being happy, I may just have to remove the mood pictures...
Not that being happy is a bad thing ^_^
Anyway...
First off, the counter of my main page has now reached over 125000 hits. Many thanks! I can't believe it still gathers that much hits despite TOILI being more of a thing of the past now.
For the webpage itself, some updates. A new picture for the Chosen page, new stories/chapters for the archive and I even updated two TOILI side-stories per author's request. About time I catch up on my backload. Now, only a few TOILI translations remains to add...
On my stories, well I wrote today the first scene of Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters. But only that scene. But, hey, a start is better than nothing, ne?
I also read the first half of the Everquest guide book. Soon, I'll *finally* be able to try it. Unless I get the new Chrono Trigger/Final Fantasy 4 PSX combo package and get caught by it.
On a personal mundane life level, gave blood today. And this time (it's the third time) while I did get a bit wozzy, I managed to make it through the entire process and not be on the verge of fainting. Cool! Hope it helps some people (unlike in the US, in Canada it's a volontary thing; you go and give blood for free, not for money).
July 31st 2001
Ah, life is good...
Oh dear... it's been a long time since I last updated.
But then, I've been busy. Between the Takoballs and writing Chosen Chapter 2, I've had lots of things to keep me busy.
Yes, Chosen Chapter 2. Freshly slightly corrected even. Some of you want to take a look?
Even better, I've already prepared the outline for Chapter 3. But I'll be working on T3B Chapter 8 first.
As for the Takoballs, votes will be closed down when I wake up tomorrow morning. Fortunately, I did a lot of work on this, so my part should require only one or two more nights of work.
Well, that's all for this short update. Still a bit busy-busy, but in a good way ^_^
(And to be forgiven for the lack of pics of the week, a bit of fan service)
July 21st 2001
Ah, life is good...
First off, it's currently much cooler this morning then it was yesterday, which is good. Not fun to use a computer in a room that could serve as sauna.
Secondly... the second round for the Takoballs Awards is up and running! Thanks for thow who voted for those stories of mine which made it to this round. Now, go vote! (for the best stories, not necessarily my stories)
Chosen Chapter 2 is doing good. I'm up to ten pages, more then the length of Chosen Chapter 1 and probably half of this chapter done. I love it when I'm doing significant work.
Oh, and my bad guys now have a name! What is it? Sore wa himitsu desu ^_^ You'll have to wait and find out...
Oh, and don't forget to go vote! (or at least go take a look at the nominees)
July 19th 2001
Busy, busy, busy...
Ack! Help!
I'm now determined, I want to finish Chosen Chapter 2 before the end of the month. But I have a problem. I don't know how to call my bad guys...
Evil Ones or Dark Ones sound stupid. Angels no longer fit. Demons wouldn't either. No, I need something cool. Example, Slayers uses Mazoku. That's cool. Other fantasy anime usually also have good names for their bad guys, as a group.
I don't have one... it's very infuriating and worrisome Anyone with suggestions?
And on top of that, still has a lot of work to do for the Takoballs... *sigh*
July 17th 2001
Busy, busy, busy...
In the last days, I spent MANY hours compiling results, evaluating votes, searching links, building webpages... Taking care of the 2001 Takoballs Awards is a huge job indeed. Fortunately, I have good assistants to help me with what I can't do on my own and to check my work, in order to avoid mistakes.
And there is still much to do. But no worries, it will all be ready for the second round starting Saturday.
Readers may also be happy to know that I've set a goal for myself now. If all goes well, Chosen Chapter 2's draft should be ready before the end of the month. I'm really getting psyched up. Write Alain, WRITE!!!
(To be noted, I've again added a scene, which brings it at 5 pages of text so far. This will be the last teaser until I'm done...)
Now, some may wonder... why worried. Because I may be on the verge of making a huge mistake. You see, I finally decided to buy and try...
Everquest.
Will I become like some people I know at work who've gotten addicted to this game, or will I manage to simply use it for fun now and then... only time will tell...
July 8th 2001
Gah! It's complete and utter chaos all around me!
You see... I can be somewhat of an impulsive buyer. It doesn't happen that much, but I still tend to sometimes to and go buy stuff on impulse.
So a few days ago, I was at the mother of a high school friend house, checking her computer. While it was busy checking itself for virus, we started to chat, and the subject of my parents came up. Or rather the fact that none of them ever used a computer before. Which is... well... a bit uncommon today, as more and more people are now using computers here. The fact is, they never asked to teach them, I never proposed to them, and more importantly, I don't want any newbies to fool around on my system.
So I started thinking about how recently my aunt had my buy her a new computer for a very reasonable price. And I pondered on all the extra pieces I have home. And I also pondered on how people from work mentioned how they were getting all sort of computer equipment for very cheap via sites like eBay.
And so, here I am, working on the software side of the new computer I just put together for my parent's use. Now, for those who don't know, my bedroom also acts as work place. And any of you who ever put a computer together from scratch (instead of getting a HP or Compaq ready to use system) should know how everything will go wild around you. So... well, you have empty boxes (which used to hold extra and new pieces) a bit everywhere, over or under clothing, CDs and floppy on my desk, floor (not the bed, since I just slept in it) etc, various tools (screwdrivers, etc) all around, screws, cables and more. Plus, since I previously worked on my aunt's new computer, I find myself with currently five computers in the room: my two regular one (and one of the two currently opened since I needed a cable from it) my new computer, my aunts and the office laptop (which is currently handy downloading some Kodomo no Omocha - it's infuriating however, I'll have everything from ep. 1 to 32 except for episode 28 which is missing from the place I'm getting it). So... as I said... chaos.
But don't go thinking that I'm complaining too much because of this. After all, this IS what I do for a living, and I don't only do it for the money. I also do it because I LOVE this job. So even if I'm starting to wonder if I'm not currently trying to compete with Lain about how to fill a room with computers, hey, I'm in bliss. In fact, I could have put "Happy" as mood today, but I had a rather bad night, a mild headache, so "Good" will be more accurate. Plus there's the matter of that annoying 12x CD-ROM which won't read CD-R. Guess I'll eventually have to get a cheap but more recent CD-ROM... At least, I have original copies of Windows 95, 98 and Millenium, so I could still put this thing together.
Now, why bore you with all this stuff? Well, this basically means that I didn't do any reading or writing in the last days. I know, I know, not that surprising, but I AM getting in the mood to work on Chosen. Just to show it, I bought yesterday the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons guide books for player and game masters.
(Did I mention earlier that I tented to be a compulsive buyer?)
Now, since I'm mentioning that, a few words on the fantasy nature of Chosen. Someone asked me a question on this, so I might as well add a note.
I'm making it all up. True, there will be several influences (particularly Lodoss War, Magic Knight Rayearth, Maze and Bastard!!) but that doesn't mean that I'll stick to the usual rules and stereotypes. For example, Rei will be about 80-90 year old, which follows the trend of Elven longer life span, but the origins of the Elven race in Chosen and how it existed in that world may have its unique twist. Keep in mind that I'm writing this for my personal fun.
So, even if I bought those books... they might just get used as reference for perhaps some spells, weapon and armor types, etc. Or I may not even use them at all.
July 5th 2001
I should be happy. I've finally written a Chosen scene for Chapter 2 (available now). The 41st chapter of Higher Learning is out. My computers are now as I wanted them for a while and I've finally got access to high speed internet.
But said internet access is currently highly unstable. In fact, in the last few days, I found myself unable to access the net via it for a few hours each day. I'm hoping that it's just the cabling here that's inadequate. Because, if it's not, then that means that I live a bit too far from the server, and that would mean returning to the old 56K modem. And after experiencing a connection that allows me to get 150 Mb files in about an hour, I don't want to return to the excessively slow speed of conventional modems.
It would be like torture. Tempting me with a taste of heaven to then forbid me to enter.
This sucks. Hope I'm lucky.
June 28th 2001
Well, I've been pondering "I used to love her" for some time now, and came to realise that I like it exactly as it is, so no modification will be done. So I uploaded the copy I somehow forgot to upload last month (basically, just an half hour worth of grammar/spelling corrections) and decided that it was it. Although, a slightly revised edition could be uploaded a bit later, if I can find a good editor to eventually go over it, so I won't send it on the RAAC just yet.
On other matters, I've finally got to see the end of Kancho Oji/Legend of Black Heaven. Only one word... COOL!!!!!!!!!!
June 25th 2001
Sorry if I didn't update yesterday. But I had things with bigger concerns to take care of first. Like the 2001 TAKO BALLS AWARDS!!! Yes, it's now up and running and ready to take your votes! So go and vote for your favorites stories and authors.
June 13th 2001
Well, Ruri is well underway to be fully operational again. The fact that I can actually make a small update is proof of that.
Fanfic wise. Finally, I'm starting to get active. Slowly, but surely. Now, the outline of Chosen Chapter 2 is finally set, I just need to write it. At least, I wrote a few more paragraphs. I also finally finished something I had started and had half written in an hour a month ago. The rest took this long to come up. It's just a small something that NEEDED to be written... Anyway, here's the draft of my latest little piece, The Fate of two Worlds.
June 17th 2001
Well, one of my hard drive is dying, so this will be a quick and limited update. No pic of the week again, as a lot of my data is currently not accessible. It's not gone, I have backups, but it's not handy either until I get my new hard drive in a day or two. Oh well... that old hard drive did get a lot of use, so it's no wonder it went for an early retirement. Still sucks, however, the timing wasn't that great. I hate it when my budget gets wrecked like that. But no worries, it's an expanse I can quite easily cover and Ruri (my current main computer) will soon be back to her usual shape, if not better than ever!
June 13th 2001
Two weeks since the last news? Oh my...
Alright... first off, it seems I forgot to do an update last Sunday. So for those who come looking for the pic of the week (is there any of those?) sorry.
Also, didn't work on Chosen chapter 2. So for those waiting for it, sorry as well.
Well, at least I for once made a quick update for the SEELE website... I've been slower on the previous update, so I'm proud of myself this time. And, while with a bit of delay, I'm finally slowly starting the process to soon launch the 2001 Tako Balls awards. Excellent.
Now... on today's news. Had a rather so-so day. Good things happened, with not so good things too. Learned interesting things, but also put my foot in my mouth several times, and who knows, I might even have upset an important friend. I sure was a bit too indiscreet. But nevertheless, I'm in really great mood tonight. Maybe it's because my student for the summer insisted that I tried the PC game, Serious Sam. While I usually get bored of 3D-shooters fast, that one had my heart pumping. Wow... the old Doom 2 feel with today's graphic engines and sound...
Oh, yeah. At work, I'm having a summer student working for me. We get one every summer. Very handy, since we had a lot of computer upgrades to do and... well, were often busy with more urgent matters. While I would have liked to have a cute female student (we only take college or university student BTW, just so none of you get any wrong ideas) Marc-Andre is a very nice guy and like the previous summer students I had before, very enjoyable to work with.
No, over all, my only disappointment today... I learned that the Evil Dead: Hail to the King PC game is rather bad. Only got 10/20 on two games reviews I've seen. For an Evil Dead fan like me, this sucks...
Before today. I've received a new shipment of DVDs again. This time, I had the opportunity to see the second volume of "Legend of Black Heaven" and the fifth volume of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040". Ah, I love those two series. I'm eager for more. Also watched the fourth volume of "Gasaraki". While my interest in it was limited before, it's a bit more pronounced now. Things are getting interesting.
I've also received some very cool art for Chosen by Jan Michael Aldeguer. It's getting harder and harder to choose which designs I'll use for things to come...
Well, I can worry about that later. For now... I feel GOOD!
June 3rd 2001
Ah, had a pleasant, if ordinary, week-end, despite the weather switching between gloomy and very wet. Pretty much leisured home all Saturday, alternating between watching for the second time some anime DVDs I particularly liked (been a while since I could actually do that). Also did a bit of reading and a bit of chatting. Actually, perhaps more than a bit, considering one of my friend's fondness for role-playing. But, it's fun and good for maintaining my writing and improvising skills ^_^
Sunday was a lot focused on going to see "Return of the Mummy". You see, I live in a rather small town (population about 7000) so the closest movie theater is in the next significant town, 65 kilometers from here. So if you're going to pay about 20 dollars to see a movie (price of the movie, popcorn, and lately highly costly gas to go there) one is better make the most of it, which meant also shopping for extra stuff I needed/wanted for my computer installation, visiting one or two friends there and also treat myself with some KFC which we don't have here, but that I like a lot.
Back to the Mummy. I nearly didn't make it in. Usually, I go get my movie ticket an hour or an half hour before the showing time, but for the only time I didn't do that, Murphy's Law demanded that somehow hundred of other people decided to watch the movie at the same time, despite the fact that there's usually only an handful of people going for Sunday afternoon sessions.
I really didn't think this movie was this popular.
In any case, I did make it there. Despite being crowded (with all seats full), a copy with crappy sound, some technical problems which lead to a two minutes interruption, I still enjoyed the movie quite a lot. Not the greatest plot around, but that's okay, I was just there to have some fun and entertainment, not try to see of this was material for the next Oscars.
Speaking of which, I'll have to think about getting the "Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon" DVD which will be released tomorrow...
On this note, back to my mixed efforts at planning and writing Chosen Chapter 2 (yes, after a bit of inactivity, I'm trying to get back into writing mode).
May 28th 2001
Well, that was quick. In only a few hours, I received alternate download sites, links to software to find mp3 and the song itself that I wanted. Ah, I really love it... Graphically, the Black Heaven intro is probably one of the worse I've seen (unfortunately, since some might judge the series on it) but musically, it's my favorite.
Many thanks to all those who offered their help!
May 27th 2001
I don't get it! I looked on the Anipike, but NOTING for either "Black Heaven" or it's original name, "Kacho-Ouji". How it can be underrated like that be beyond me. I only watched the first DVD (vol. 3 and for are in the mail and the second should probably be shipped Wednesday, assuming that the titles dated May 29th in my latest order aren't late) but already I'm hooked. So far, it's probably the DVD that got put in one of my two players the more often of my collection and said collection is now well over the 100 DVDs.
But this isn't quite why I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed because I want to listen to the introduction song without having to put the DVD in a player and I can't find it anywhere! I tried searching on the album "Kacho-Kourin", I tried to search the song itself, "Cautionary Warning", by John Sykes, but nothing. Can't find a MP3 of it. Will I have to spend 40$ on the import CD just for one song? (I mean, damn, that's 2 anime DVDs!!!)
Well... I can always try to get it from the DVD... it'll be the short edition however, but it should satisfy me somewhat I guess...
Sorry, just needed to rant a bit...
May 23rd 2001
Ah, I'm happy now. In the last two days, I've received over fifteen of you have written to comment on "I used to love her". And for the most part, all positive comment! Yes, there's reason for much joy indeed.
To be honest, I probably overreacted. I put a lot of efforts into this story and... well I found myself wanting comments... badly. I apologize if my whining made some of you feel guilty.
To be truthful, while I had no worries about the lemon scene in itself (meaning that my primary challenge to write a lemon was achieved), I wasn't so sure about the story itself. Not it's quality, but how it would be received. After all, let's face it, a lot of NGE fanfic readers are either die-hard fans of either Shinji/Asuka or Shinji/Rei pairings. But this story promoted neither one. In fact, some may see it as Asuka bashing (even if I personally think that the possibility depicted here, although grim, could happen). And Rei lovers might find her lack of presence as a turn off.
But, all the recent positive feedback erased these doubts. True, there will still be readers who'll be too used in the old classics to truly enjoy it, but that's okay.
There's probably only one thing that could make me even happier. A bit more feedback from my lady readers. I put a lot of effort into making this something women could enjoy (after all, when it comes to lemon, guys are generally not so hard to please). While one of my pre-readers told me that I had succeeded (in fact, it was her opinion that girls might enjoy it even more than guys) I would like to have more than the input two female readers (which is all I got so far). However, I do understand that its probably embarrassing to take a step forward and say "Hey, I really enjoyed that lemon!" as it would be admitting that someone read it in the first place, so it'll be okay if you ladies want to remain discreet on this. I've put an "Objectives achieved" label on this story, so comments by you be more like icing on the cake. But as of now, the cake of success is still delicious as it is ^_^
If I can, I'll try to work seriously on ONE of my projects this week-end, quite possibly Chosen Chapter 2. The plot is more clearer in my mind than for T3B Chapter 8. Also, I need to start planning on NEGEV Chapter 12. Yes, that's right, my friend Ee-Loong asked me if I wanted to take a role in his Sci/Fi NGE elsewhere saga and I accepted. So I'll be handling Chapter 12. Honestly, this scares me. I mean, if I screw up in my fics, it's okay, no prob. But someone else's fic? But I'm eager too. This should be quite an experience. Hope I don't disappoint. (Reminder, you'll find NEGEV here)
May 21st 2001
Sorry for the lack of update. I've been kept busy yesterday.
As the mood here suggest, I'm slightly disappointed. In all appearances, "I used to love her" is doing great. In eight days, it hit 400 visitors and it's still just in draft form. While I'm sure that the [LEMON] tag plays a role in it, it's fun to see that there's so many people visiting my page on a regular basis.
But as I said, it only does great in appearance...
Because the ratio of feedback on it so far is only of one out of four hundred. That's... not so good. After the feedback from my pre-readers and the people on the Evangelion Fanfic Mailing List... this is disappointing. So far, I'm forced to choose between a number of conclusions:
1- People checked it out only because of the [LEMON] tag
2- People didn't even finish it because the majority of the story is NOT a lemon scene
3- People are not interested in it because it doesn't focus on either Rei or Asuka
4- It sucks (despite earlier comments)
Wounded ego aside, I'm doing quite good. I was very pleased with the end if Digimon 0:2 this weekend, which is a good thing since I've grown fond of the series over time, even despite of the evils of Jeff Nimoy's adaptations (he screw up so much on such things, it wasn't surprising that he didn't work on the last 2 episodes as it was clear that his vision of Digimon was totally worthless). Also got to watch the third Pokemon movie. While Pokemon isn't a favorite of mine, I don't pretend to despise it like some do out of embarrassment and I quite enjoyed it. Nothing that will stand in my top 10 list, but enjoyable nonetheless. And to top it all, I got to watch the last episode of the first Card Captor Sakura season (since I watch the French dub, I can actually enjoy it more or less in it's integrity, aside from changes to most of the names). So even if I was out of anime DVDs to watch, I was still in anime bliss ^_^ (won't stay that long however, got the second Magic Knight Rayearth Boxset on it'S way here...)
Personal life goes as usual. Although, now I'm interacting more with one of my proteges. She was a bit down so I tried to fix that. I'd like to think I succeeded. It's always nice to know you've made someone else more cheerful.
Back to fanfiction, took it easy again this week. Only wrote the first scene for Chosen chapter 2. Soon, I'll start reading Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters from the start and hopefully, I'll get into it again.
May 14th 2001
We are perverts...
What you doubt it? Then, why did "I used to love her" score over a hundred hits in even less than twenty-four hours?
Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing mind you ^_^
Anyway... with all the feedback I got with Chosen, I found myself lacking space. So Chosen, like TOILI did before, was moved to another location. But you shouldn't really notice anything. Still, I had to update a few links.
In any case, thanks to the artists who answered the challenge. Because of that, I have a better grasp in my mind of what the characters will look like.
May 13th 2001
Urg... a nap a few hours after eating chicken wings is a bad idea.
You see, I didn't sleep very well last night, so I thought, hey, it's a Sunday, I've got nothing to do, why not take a nap. Bad move. Since I didn't really sleep all that much, the headache I had got worse, and I feel like I'm going to throw up soon. I hate feeling like that.
The good news, the draft of the lemon fanfic I've been talking about for months, I used to love her is now available on this webpage. Wonder if I should put a counter to see how many ecchi boys will go read it (or girls... I've had some nice comments by female readers...)? But I'll warn you... this is a story with lemon scenes, and not a lemon with a few non-lemon scenes (just in case some would go and get their pants down, expecting some action in the first few paragraphs).
May 12th 2001
Sometimes, things go better than usual. This is one of those days. First, being a weekend, I could sleep a few more hours than I usually do. Which is always a plus. True, some cuddling female presence would make it even better, but I take what I can get. Then, I've got to watch two really good Digimon episodes. You can feel that the second season is about to end and there was a lot of things I didn't expect, even with the spoilers I've picked up here and there. Also, "I used to love her" is progressing greatly. The revisions are almost done and when I'm finished with that, only half a scene to go! A negative element could have come from the fact that I had to go to work today to oversee repairs on our network server, but things went so smoothly, it was almost a joy.
Yes, truly, I'm happy today...
May 9th 2001
For those who worried, good news. I only suffered minor loss of data. The only thing I couldn't apparently restore from a source or another was the pic of the week for April 8th... apparently, I have no trace of it anywhere and I don't remember what it was. But it's not a very significant loss, since all my pics from the week are taken from either my sorted or unsorted NGE directories. So I still have it, I just don't know what picture it was.
What worries me more is my current inhability to write. I want to write four new scenes to wrap up "I used to love her" (I'll keep that title after all) but I just don't have the same drive to write than I had when I wrote the fifty last Kb of the story.
Oh well... I'll try to get myself as relaxed as I can, and watch the 5th and 6th NGE DVDs which I recently got. Maybe that'll put me back in business.
May 5th 2001
Little problem... I don't know when exactly I'll be able to be able to update this page next (mainly the pic of the week) as the hard drive containing all my anime data had problems... which lead to me losing the directory that holds all my web related files (in other words, the files that make up this web page and my others) and the directory which contained all my fanfics (so, I lost the latest "I used to love her" copy... fortunately, I can retrieve it, but it'll take some time).
In other words, I'm annoyed, but since the actual damage is minimal, I'll be glad...
Still, this bring delays I could have done without... after all, I have 14 pages of grammar errors to correct and I have new scenes to write and some to modify.
May 1st 2001
Seems I forgot to change the pic of the week Sunday. Well, I'll leave this one for this week and put two next week. Currently, I have a terrible headache and I'm awfully tired; was already after getting up this morning and it only got worse as the day went by. I wonder if this isn't the first signs of something like an upcoming flu. Hope not. In any case, can't much think straight now, so I'll only be some "Don't leave me alone Daisy" episodes for me tonight, before I get to bed early, should it be to get rid of this day as soon as possible.
On fanfic basis, I've received some C&C on "I used to love her" that will imply a few significant changes (including finding a new title). But hopefully I can still manage to release this story on the EFML this weekend. So I'm hoping for a release on this webpage around the 13th...
April 28th 2001
Ah, a lazy day. It's been a while since I last had that. There was always some ICQ chat to do, or some real life interruption or activity, or something to do on the net or lately putting efforts into finishing "I used to love her". No, today, I could just stay in my sleeping attire up past two in the afternoon, keep wrapped up in a blanket and put in the DVDs in the player one after another.
Ah, that was good. Especially since I got to finish Dual, Outlaw Star and Jubei-chan. And as an extra bonus, all three series had a satisfying ending. What more could I ask for? (well, aside perhaps some feminine presence to snuggle on while watching anime?)
Speaking of "I used to love her", feedback so far, aside from minor details easy to tweak, is just great! Perhaps the harsher criticism is waiting to get me when I'm not expected, but so far... I'm beaming with pride. And I even managed to have some... hem... positive... reaction from female readers about the lemon scene. I mean, guys are easy to please, but girls... Even if this story doesn't really get popular, even if some criticize some of the events that occurs in it and the pairing used... that fact alone is enough for me to be satisfied.
Now, to slowly plot in my mind the next chapters of T3B and Chosen...
April 25th 2001
YES!!!
"First pre-reader draft finished on April 25th 2001" There isn't sweeter music to my ears. I'm happy, I'm ecstatic, I feel like the king of the world! All the little worries and problems of the day, even the weariness, vanished as I typed those words.
There's no greater feeling...
Maybe tomorrow, when I get some C&C after the first pre-reading group has dissected that story, will my mood fall into an abyss of angst. But for now, I'm at an all time high!
The Black Knight is back and conquered that beast that was "I used to love her" (the Black Knight refers to the origins of my nickname Rakna... a story that will remain unknown since my little fantasy novel attempt, "Allansia" is written in French). Let's just hope it was indeed slain and that it wont hit me when I'm not looking.
Concretely, what does this means for you all? Well, first, hopefully (if the story works) a lemon in the middle of May. Then, I can start working on either T3B or Chosen. What will it be? Maybe I'll flip it with a coin...
April 22nd 2001
Finally!
It took forever, but finally the stupid theater where I live showed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Thought I'd have to wait six more weeks for the DVD...
Well, I'll tell you, that was an experience. Worth all the hype I heard from a few otaku friends of mine? Yeah, I'd say so. Has it's weak point, and may not be for everyone (I mean, I know for instance that my mother won't like it due to the surrealist fighting moves) but quite enjoyable for the average otaku. It was definitely worth all the expenses to go see it.
Oh, and let's not forget the cute Chinese girls again ^_^
April 19th 2001
Ah, happy day! (no, this is not fanfic related)
Finally, I was able to see Drunken Master II (also known as "Legend of the Drunken Master" in America). And an unexpected bonus, the Canadian edition also had the French 5.1 Dolbi Digital track. That's something that wasn't mentioned on the online store I got it from, but I sure won't complain ^_^
Not as funny as some other movies, but... wow... what a martial art movie... (oh, and many cute Chinese girls too)
Oh, and for those who don't know yet, the 40th Higher Learning lesson is out. I'll admit it, I was impressed. Probably the best covering of the aftermath of the 15th Angel I've ever read. A powerful, moving piece... It almost hurt to see the characters hurting that way, and to manage to make the reader feel that pain... it takes a great author. My congratulations to Strike Fiss, I bow at this performance.
April 15th 2001
If I had to put a mood of the day, I think that 'bored' would be the most appropriate. Not because of a lack of stuff to do, on the contrary. The last few days have been some of those days were nothing really gets my attention for long. I just don't focus on anything for very long, so I find myself pacing around the relm which is my bedroom-office-recreative center in search of something of interest. But when I find something, I find myself back to square one an hour, if not an half hour, later.
Oh well... there are days like that. Maybe I should just grab my plush cat D-chan and bury myself under my bed covers. The only annoying part is that I wanted to try and work on my current project, so that only the last scene would be left.
Now, some may have wondered, what *is* my current project? Well, for months now, I've been working on a special lemon project which I've called "I used to love her". Feedback from a friend or two, as well as my Mysterious Collaborators, has been good enough for me to actually mention the title now. But as for the characters involved into this project or it's setting... Sore wa himitsu desu! ^_^
For those who are either underage (and actually respect that) or simply aren't attracted to lemons, never fear! The plot of this story is solid enough for me to actually release an edited edition. As it currently stands, the few lemony bits aside, the story itself cover over 18 pages, versus 23 pages for the lemon edition. Not so bad if I can say so myself ^_^
With three regular scenes to write and the last big lemon scene, I'm hoping to have this story ready for my pre-readers and the EFML at the end of April. Then have it proofread so that the final draft could be ready at the end of May. Am I up to the challenge? I guess we'll know soon enough...
Now, some may ask, why waste time on a lemon while I could use that time to work on T3B or Chosen instead? Well, aside from the obvious answer that I'm a perverted single guy, it was a sort of challenge. I wanted to know if I could actually manage to write a *good* lemon, but also one that could stand out from the others. Not necessarily one that would be overly popular, but something that would have a certain dose of quality to it. Obviously, my first attempt (which is 'hidden' in the lemon section of this website) didn't quite satisfy me if I'm not willing to have it published anywhere else than on my website. No, I want a story which I can proudly claim as been written by me. Even if it doesn't get awards or isn't popular. It's something I need to do for myself.
Besides, the story wouldn't leave my mind anyway...
April 8th 2001
Well, there are times when one must know when to quit. I contemplated the pros and cons and decided to quit fanfiction writing.
Oh, wait... April's fool was a week ago... damn...
Sorry, couldn't resist... as I was saying, one must know when to quit. So I decided to trash one of the few NGE fanfic project I've been having in mind for months now. The story was to be called The Masks We All Wear. Basically, the plot was to involve Hikari becoming the 4th Children instead of Touji and end up inside the 13th Angel. Now, those who've read my stuff probably guessed that this wasn't all of it. Added to that was the idea of showing a dark, unknown side to Hikari... that the cheery, normal, happy Hikari was only a facade, a mask, and that in truth, she was a sad, broken person. Because, you see, at home, she would get beaten up by an abusive father (actually, I also went as far as consider sexual abuse, but I wasn't quite that interested in going there, so I was pretty more keeping it to physical and verbal violence, which is still very bad). And while trapped inside the 13th Angel, Hikari would have gone through a similar process than Asuka with the 15th, events of her past life replayed in her mind, bringing her anger forth to fuel the 13th attack on the other EVAs. In the end, I had perhaps planned to have Touji uneasy with Hikari injuries and hint at a potential relationship between Hikari and Shinji, beginning with guilt, pity and a desire for repentance on Shinji's part, then gradually something else.
Oh, and the bastard father did get to jail before he could focus his attention on young Nozomi.
But... as I said, I'm giving this one up...
First, I won't have the time. Between my current project, then Chosen, finishing T3B and other ideas I have, I won't be able to work on this one. Second, this would end up being a sort of fusion of two stories I added to the archive today, Crash and Burn by Rei Langley Sohryu Ayanami and ....and then there were Four by the 18th Angel, as one deals with the 4th Children aspect and the other with the abuse part. And some elements of that project got tweaked and twisted into the project I'm currently working on. So, this idea became less and less attractive.
It's not easy to give up on a project. There's always a bit of guilt and a feeling of failure. But at least, I never even got to start it, so I guess it's okay.
April 2nd 2001
I hate fashion. More precisely, I hate the recent fashion in sport shoes. Dammit! Those things are so ugly now. A bunch of flashy colors that doesn't always go well together. Shoes with soles so high they almost look like boots. And those stupid gadgets like flashing lights, springs or whatever... Every year I try to find a new pair of shoes I like and I just end up frustrated. The result... if I don't find something decent, I'll either have to go for more classic business type of shoes, or add a new year to my already eight year old pair of shoes (luckily, those were made to last it seems).
Either this is one more sign that I'm getting old or people today really have no taste...
On the bright side, I actually got a webcam free today! (an EZ Cam II USB) Heck, I'll actually even get some money after I send the mail-in rebate. Gotta thank Dad again for giving me his soon to expire Radio Shack 50$ coupons. It was lucky of me that he couldn't find anything to get there that didn't cost a few hundred even after the rebate. Now, it's not a top quality webcam, but it'll be good enough to play with and see if I like to use that. But I won't have time to play with it until this weekend...
Another thing that helped calm down from the shoe search failure were the maples cakes at St-Hubert. You see, here in Quebec, it's maple season. Each spring, we can get maple syrup, one of our sugary delicacies (no, really, for example it's common thing to see French tourists return home with a suitcase full of maple syrup cans). Since the maple cakes at St-Hubert are only available for about one month each year, I helped myself with a nice piece. Yummy! Forget chocolate cakes, maple cakes rule!
This section seems to be turning more and more into a diary of sort... hope I'm not annoying anyone with those random thoughts.
Oh, on fiction grounds, I'm currently reworking part of the first chapter of Chosen. Fellow fanfic writer Sparky Clarkson pointed out a few good points about it, and I'm hoping to make it better than it used to be ^_^
April 1st 2001
This is no April's fool joke... I couldn't think of one anyway...
Suicide... It's something I never understood. It's something I never contemplated.
It's scary how many people I've known who've thought of it. And I fear the day when someone I know actually goes through with the idea and succeeds.
People, when everything is dark, don't let yourself drown into those negative feelings. If you just give yourself the time to think this through, you may just realize that it isn't so dark and that there are more people who care about you then you might think. A lot of people who would be hurt if you do something stupid.
No matter what set of values you carry, one fact remains: life is the most precious thing you have. Without it, no other value exists. If you're dead, you can't be selfish and work to obtain everything you want in life, or be selfless and give to those in need. If you're dead, you can no longer worship any god you believe in and there's always the chance that you were wrong and that there is no afterlife, meaning that you let the angst win over you. There is nothing more valuable than life, as life is a path to endless possibilities... if you're just willing to walk its path.
So for those feeling down today, I'll try to be extra happy, wishing that their smiles can join mine ^_^
Rakna will also recommend you all to read a NGE fanfic by Darren Demaine, who I find covers the subject well: As I Stare Into Myself / Strong Arms to Hold Me (To Push Me)
To finish, one of my favorites anime quotes: "This land is made of... LOVE & PEACE!" - Vash the Stampede, Trigun (hey, seemed fitting)
March 27th 2001
Thanks to those who worried about me ^_^
But worry no longer, as I'm back to my (more or less usually) cheerful self (five episodes of Lost Universe did wonders for my mood - now only one DVD left and I'm finding myself eager to get it, despite that I already saw the fansubs of that series). I just need to whine a bit from time to time... shows me that I'm here and alive.
Possibly discovered a prospect for the creation of a new anime otaku today. It is a long shot, but it might actually work. Just need to pick up the right manga. Think I'll try with the first volumes of Evangelion, Gunnm, Ranma 1/2 and Kenshin. Enough variety in that for possibly one series to catch the guy's attention. And if it does... then everything may possibly fall into place.
Now, why would I want to bring birth to another otaku? Well, first off, it would be fun to have one close by. It is, after all, always interesting to have someone to share your interests with. And of course... an friend otaku means possible new resources in acquiring new manga and anime which is always good ^_^
Hey, you can enjoy something while also acting in your best interest :P
As I was reflecting on which shows I could eventually show my potential victim, I decided to update my anime history list. I found myself... impressed. Wow, I really saw that much anime series/movies/OVA? No doubt I could make the envy of those who have trouble finding anime with such a list.
So I guess an extra smile is in order. Ah, life is good...
March 26th 2001
Feeling... moody today. Not quite depressed, but on the edge. The kind of day where gray clouds and heavy rain would be more suitable for the way I feel.
Ever looked at your life so far and wondered if the resulting assessment is positive or negative? I find myself doing that a lot lately. Perhaps it's because I hit 25 and feel like time is starting to running out, that I'm no longer a child with all the time of the world. Or perhaps it's because that the loneliness of this nearly self imposed closed world I live in is starting to get to me. But still, while I find myself coming to the conclusion that I am happy, I just can't manage to be satisfied. There are voids in my life, I'm aware of their existences, but I don't know what to do aside trying to smile and push those thoughts aside until the next time. Lately, I've had someone I could annoy with my whining, but circumstances have made that now I find myself having trouble to discuss with that person in a way we did in the past. And it just adds to my inner turmoil, fear of the prospect of another lost friendship, but this time it's worse as I actually care.
*Sigh*
Oh, and did I mention that there wasn't a DVD copy of "Legend of the Drunken Master" at my local Wal-Mart. Such a disappointment sure didn't improve my mood...
I owe you people a lot. This may seem superficial, after all fanfiction is only a hobby, but you, my readers, bring me a lot. When I feel bad, the thought that I've did something that people all around the globe enjoyed and are still enjoying help bring a smile to my face. I believe it's another reason why I write fanfiction. Oh, I write first and foremost because I enjoy it, but you, the readers, makes the experience all the more worthwhile.
Thank you all!
Well, now that I managed to find some way to complain about myself, I'll try to change my mind. Fortunately, two shipments of anime DVDs just got here, so this should do the trick. For those curious, this week's DVDs will be:
Black Heaven, vol. 1
Don't leave me alone Daisy
Key the Metal Idol, vol. 2
Lost Universe, vol. 5
Sailormoon S, vol. 1
Sakura Diaries, vol. 4
Sol Bianca, vol. 2-3
Tenchi the movie (Tenchi Muyo in Love)
March 25th 2001
Woohoo! Productive weekend. While I didn't work on either T3B or Chosen, I still managed to get 7 pages worth of text done. Haven't done that in quite some time. A sign that my writing speed will pick up? Well, not necessarily, since this is the result of an intensive effort all weekend long. But hey, it's better than nothing ^_^
March 21st 2001
Well, I'm happy ^_^
In the last two days, I've received the first pictures in response fo the artist called issued about Chosen. Those pictures are available on the Artist challenge page. Still on that subject, Chosen Chapter 2 is progressing well in my mind. I still have tons of details that I need to reflect on, but I might be able to start working on that chapter soon.
Also, I've finally decided that T3B Chapter 6 was ready for final release. Many thanks to David Smith who did extensive work twice to help me improve the grammar.
And I'm clearing yet again another backlog of mail. My apologies sometimes if I tend to make you wait in my e-mail replies, but as uneventful as my life is, I often find myself either without time to reply to my mails, or I simply don't feel like it. But I usually eventually get to it, preferably within two weeks, except if it was a mail where someone wanted me to give opinions on a story... that can take a lot more time.
Oh, and I added the latest chapter of Together we Stand, Book 2 in the Archive.
March 18th 2001
News, news...
Well, didn't do much writing this week. But I did work on a bit on Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters chapters 6 and 7, so the final draft of 6 should be released soon, while 7 will go in final pre-reading mode sometime this week. But, on a good note, I now have some nice music to inspire my writing. Indeed, after a few months of limbo at AnimeNation, I finally got my CD The Day of Second Impact. While I have all the tracks on it in MP3, it's nice to finally have one real CD (not one burned or one that ended up being a SonMay copy).
On the archive, it has seen the reappearance of Strike Fiss with his latest Higher Learning chapter and I've also added a cute Rei fic called Apartment 403.
March 11th 2001
Well, don't know of the DVDs helped or not, but I wrote a few pages the last few days. And for the first time in a while, I actually felt some pride with one of the scenes I wrote. A sign that I'm getting into the writing mood. Maybe, maybe not, but let's hope so.
Chosen keeps getting some good feedback so far, which I'm happy about. Having some people to read it will only make the writing more fun. As those who visited the Artists challenge page (see above) might have seen, I have a basic idea of how Rei and Asuka should look like. So now, I need to work on the armored Shinji. There's also a lot more background work I need to do before getting seriously on this. But I will eventually, perhaps work on Chapter 2 simultaneously with Tokyo-3 Baby-sitters Chapter 8. But I've got something else to finish first.
About the archive, I've added a few things by Lara Bartram I had neglected to put, but that's about it. The TOILI page, however, got a more significant update with the German translation to TOILI Chapter 6 and the addition of a new (Chapter 9) side story, Shinji's Thoughts by Gojira316.
March 2nd 2001
Not too long ago, a friend asked why I liked writing the news update section of this page. As I told her, I like the idea that my rambling might actually interest someone. Gives you the impression that there's some people in this world that care for the boring life that lonesome single otaku that I am.
So, unto the news...
Well, didn't accomplish as much as I would have wished in the last week. But then again, I was in vacation after all...
While I did get a bit of work done... it's only a bit, as the work was more mental. What can I say? Delicate stuff here, so I'll take its sweet time. But at least, I got the last corrections for T3B Chapter 6, so I should be able to release the final draft of that one soon, then I'll try to prepare Chapter 7 for final corrections. That way, everything will be ready for when I'll go back to writing Chapter 8.
Also, Chosen now has a temporary logo. Temporary since I didn't ask the artist of the picture I used for permission to use it and this story is nowhere near developed and popular enough to get some fanart of it's own... well, yet I hope.
That was the goor news. The bad news.... more delays... again...
You see, last month's DVD order got stock at those stupid Canadian customs offices. So I got it today. If that was good when I was playing Lunar 2, that's a bit of a distraction now. And it means that currently, on anime alone, I've got 15 DVDs to watch:
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Vol. 3
Gasaraki Vol. 2-3
Jubei-chan Vol. 1-2
Key the Metal Idol Vol. 2
Lost Universe Vol. 3-4
New Cutey Honey Vol. 1-2
Nadesico Vol. 2-3
Ninja Scroll
Outlaw Stars Vol. 2
Sakura Diaries Vol. 3
Then add to that Disney's Lady & the Tramp II and Dinosaur. I won't even mention regular movies that have been piling up in the last months...
And the worse thing is that I actually got through nine other DVDs in the last few days... Sigh, I'm happy but also broke...
Now, if this isn't enough, also expect delays to come under the form of the first Harry Potter book. After always hearing about how good it is, I decided that it was time to find out by myself so got it as a birthday gift yesterday. Therefore, I'll probably avoid the fanfic world for a few days as I go back to good old fashioned paper book.
Be thankful that I didn't put back Final Fantasy 9 in my Playstation yet...
On the archive side, we've seen the addition of the first part of of Together we Stand Book 2, Divided we Fall. Also, my dear friend Tam Ka-Wing has gone back to active service with "Light in your life" a little stories that shows the musings of an injured Touji and "Tell me who you love", a prequel to her story "Lights out", which is probably the first story to explore that "Maya likes Ritsuko" aspect a lot of fanfic writers love to use but don't bother develop. Welcome back, KW-chan ^_^
February 24th 2001
For those wondering, no I'm not dead...
Anything new? Well, a bit actually...
First, I finished Lunar 2: Eternal Blue yesterday. While I'm sure a few are like "so what?" (which is understandable), well I can't help mentioning it. Ah, that game was as cool as the first one. I highly recommend it. Great story, nice animation, cool packaging.
I'm also quite pleased with Ruri, my new second computer (updated list of my computer specs available here). Initial simple test have shown that the AMD Thunderbird 900 MHz processor handles very well compression of .avi or .mpeg files to the DivX codek. The only problem is that my old Adaptec ISA card doesn't work well with the rest of the plug & play cards with the new Abit KT7A motherboard, but that will be fixed in about a week. Installing Windows 98 Second Edition on both computers was done quickly and without problems, showing that I now have a very good backup procedure. All that remains is to change network protocol from the easy to install NetBEUI to slightly more complicated TCP/IP and add internet sharing.
On the matter of fanfiction (what you're likely really interested in) while T3B is still on hiatus, I still did a *bit* of work on my other current project. Nope, I still won't say anything about that. Also, I started a new project called Chosen. You can take a look at the draft of the first chapter here. I will admit, I was surprised by how many people on the EFML actually took interest into it. A winner formula? Time (and plenty of it) will tell...
Being now in vacation for a whole week, I'm hoping to take some time to seriously work on my current project and slowly plan new installments of Chosen. And finally try and see if I can put the final touches to T3B Chapter 6 and 7. Aside from that, I'm only planning on getting some rest, watching a few DVDs and get back at Final Fantasy IX. Ah, life is good ^_^
February 8th 2001
Well, what do you know... miracles happens. I actually managed to escape playing Lunar 2: Eternal Blue long enough to make a sort of update...
And better warn you, this will likely be the only update you'll see in a while, as I still have a fourth of the second Lunar 2 CD to play, and then the third. Added to that will be a major upgrade to Lain, my second computer (which will also include upgrading pieces on two other computers... a big deal of buying new stuff, selling the old to someone else, doing the opposite, etc...). I'll probably also use the opportunity to actually reinstall this computer as well (as codek versions included with IE 5.01 react badly with my DVD playing software). And if all this wasn't enough, I'll be getting twelve anime DVDs next week and I received 5 yesterday, as well as Disney's Dinausor (and I need to buy the Digimon movie this weekend). And I already had 6 anime DVDs I haven't had time to watch yet.
So I really won't have much time in the following week. Well, at least I'm taking a week off around my birthday to kick down and relax, so I should manage to go through all that stuff.
There is a good news however. In the last week, I actually wrote around 13 Kb of text (not T3B however, sorry - better not expect Chapter 8 until close summer). And I can finally *think* about fanfic scenes in my mind again! Guess this author isn't done yet! ^_^
On a closing note, happy Valentine's Day to all lovers all there. This may just be a commercial "holiday", but I think it's also a nice opportunity to show your loved one how much you care (that is if you need reasons to do so). So enjoy! Wish I could...
Oh, and to compensate for the lack of update, I'm putting up three pics of the weeks...
January 28th 2001
News, news... unfortunately, I'm afraid that there isn't much to give. I think the best way to summarize things is that I don't feel like writing. It's more than simple writer's block. I simply have no drive to write at the moment. Usually, when I work on a story, I often think about it when my thoughts wander. Now... nothing. I'll think of everything, except fanfiction.
Last time something happened was after the last draft I wrote of my fantasy novel, Allansia (and before some asks, it's in French, so I'm afraid it's not available - besides, my style back then isn't as nearly as good as it is now). It lasted for a year and an half until I started TOILI.
Now, I'm not trying to make things look grim. Rest assured, I do intend to finish T3B and I have other projects I really want to work on. But I'm afraid you might have to be patient. For how long? Even I don't know...
On better news, I had to go to Montreal this week and I finally managed to put my hand on Sadamoto's Der Mond. Let me tell you, this is a gorgeous collector's piece. Unfortunately, making scans of the pictures inside put a lot of strain on the book, so, since I don't want to damage it, I've only made two scans. The first is of Rei, a picture that was redesigned especially for Der Mond. The second is a picture of two girls on a scooter (not related at all to NGE, although I intend to use it in a description for my "current" project). One is available in the NGE Picture Gallery, the other in the Rakna's Anime Scans page.
January 17th 2001
First off, let me give you all a big "thank you". In less than two years, my humble webpage has managed to gather over 100,000 hits. That's simply incredible. Thank you, thank you all!
Now on more straightforward matters. First off, Nadesico fans will be happy to know that I added scans of a 2001 Nadesico calendar on the Rakna's Anime Scans page. A note of warning however: this page is on my XOOM/NBC account, which as, many of you might know, not always very stable. You might have to hit reload a few times.
Second point of interest, still not NGE related. My Gunnm/Battle Angel page as moved from my XOOM/NBC account to a more stable Geocities account. This also includes an addition of around 3 Mb of scans that were not on the old page. For those interested.
Final point, Strike Fiss is back from vacation and released today his 38th "Higher Learning" Lesson. So a good news for his fans (me included). Available on his page or on my archive.
January 15th 2001
Woohoo!!! It's a few days late, but I finally received my 2001 anime calendars! Two big calendars, one NGE and one Nadesico (although, it would be almost more accurate to say that it's a Ruri calendar). So, as I did the previous times, I've scanned the six calendars pages for your viewing pleasure (can't scan the cover as my scanner can only do as much as 8 1/2 by 14 inches). These are exclusively available to you, my readers (well, if someone else hasn't beaten me at posting them on the newsgroups) on my Picture Gallery.
BTW, did I mention that this calendar has quite a bit of fan service?
(For those interested, I'll have the Nadesico calendar scanned later this week...)
January 14th 2001
First news of 2001 (must not forget that it's "2001" now...) Not much to actually say on my personal part. I have yet to put the final touches on both T3B Chapter 6 and 7. Chapter 8 remains in hiatus. The only change is that I worked on that secret project of mine and that it's now three pages long. A start at least.
There's been developments from others however. First, those who visited recently the TOILI page may have noticed the addition of Spanish and German translations. Unlike other languages, the translators on those are still active and so far seems to plan to actually finishing the translations. Of more interest for most, however, may be the addition of the draft to the prologue of a TOILI sequel called "Que Sera Sera" by Ayanami Rei.
Click here for previous news
